BROODS BREAK THROUGH

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BROODS BREAK THROUGH

PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Monroe TEXT WILLIAM DEFEBAUGH

SIBLING-DUO BROODS MAY BE FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF FELLOW KIWI LORDE BUT THERE IS NO DENYING THESE TWO ARE STARTING A FIRE ALL THEIR OWN. THE "BRIDGES" SINGERS AND FRESHLY SIGNED CAPITOL RECORDS ARTISTS HAVE A KNACK FOR SYNTH SOUNDS AND TEEN DREAM TRACKS. V TALK THEIR RISING-STARDOM, UPCOMING ALBUM AND A MUSICAL FAMILY JUST AHEAD OF THEIR FIRST-EVER VISIT TO NYC.

“I’m in love with this,” croons Georgia Nott to a packed audience at the Mercury Lounge on the Lower East Side. She exchanges a sly smile across the stage with her brother, Caleb, before belting out the next impassioned note, and everyone in the room immediately knows she is telling the truth.

Together, Georgia and Caleb make up Broods, the latest musical sensation to go viral out of New Zealand. Monday night marked the duo’s debut show in Manhattan—and their first time ever in New York. Speaking to the Notts, it is clear that they have that type of finish-each other’s-sentences sibling bond that makes them inseparable—and the perfect partners.

“We’re different in a way that compliments each other,” says Caleb, the older of the two. “We balance each other out,” Georgia chimes in. “He’s more organized, and I’m the free spirit.” It is this rapport, coupled with the fact that they were both musically inclined since birth, that gives the sense that they really had no choice other than to form a band.

“Ever since I can remember we have wanted to be musicians,” says Georgia, the younger of the two. “I’ve been singing my whole life. We started playing music together growing up and realized that we wanted to do the whole family band thing. It’s been our whole life ambition.” With a sound that seamlessly blends synth pop with moody undertones (think a more upbeat London Grammar), The Notts are well on their way. The duo’s first single, “Bridges,” reached the top ten in the New Zealand singles chart and accumulated over 200,000 hits on Soundcloud in its first week. The track was followed by their first self-titled EP, released January 30. It was around this same time last year that fellow Kiwi Lorde—our current cover star—first began to go viral as well, with her debut EP The Love Club. Both Georgia and Caleb feel very grateful to the young singer.

“Straight off the back when we started doing the whole Broods project she was being so supportive and she tweeted us just telling us that she’s here for us if we need any advice,” says Georgia. “She was being kind of like an older sister, even though she’s younger than us. She’s always been very supportive and she turned up to our first gig and she came to our gig in Bardot. She’s just a great, great person.”

Thanks to these and other Kiwi acts such as Kimba and Naked and Famous, New Zealand has appeared in the global music scene this past year an unprecedented amount. And with cases like Broods—who go from a tweet from a 17-year-old to a sold out New York City show in just a matter of months—this trend appears to be anything but. “I think people are finally starting to look to New Zealand for new music,” adds Caleb. “It’s just really exciting people there’s so much potential happening in Auckland right now. The music industry there is looking so healthy. It’s just really exciting to see some of those bands coming out and being put in the spotlight.”

With their first album set for release in August, two upcoming music videos and a U.K. tour with Haim (another of our V88 cover stars), this first New York show represents the beginning of what promises to be a strong and healthy career—and very little to brood about.